


Planned all along

by HikariYumi



Series: MCU KinkBingo [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Movie Night, Avengers Tower, Avengers cuddle pile, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Clint understands, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Bruce, M/M, Overwhelmed Bruce, POV Bruce Banner, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Avengers, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Tony Being Tony, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony adopts people and makes them happy, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 07:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13712637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariYumi/pseuds/HikariYumi
Summary: Tony managed what Bruce had deemed impossible: He managed to come close and even made Bruce feel safe about it.





	Planned all along

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!
> 
> Some might’ve noticed, but I’m a sucker for comfort and cuddles. So here’s is the incredibly self-indulgent fluff fanfic. I’m not kidding, there are only minor hints about Clints and Bruce’s not-so happy childhood, but other than that.. it’s all happiness.
> 
> This work isn’t betaed yet, but as soon as it is I’ll update it.
> 
> ~Hikari 
> 
> (I’m sorry for all the updating, uploading over my bitching phone is a hassle.)

Back in the day after the Chitauri attack, when Tony had offered the Avengers a place to stay or swing by when they felt like it, Nick Fury had been quite approving of that idea. Bruce had realised that he had rightly assumed that Tony would equip his new team with mind-blowing tech and maybe in extent, SHIELD.  
A few months into their new living arrangements Tony had indeed gone over Natasha’s weapons and sat together with Clint over new arrows. Even Steve had gotten lucky after some time of getting to know each other better. Bruce really had to say, the new uniform suited him way better than the old one. 

But what people hadn’t anticipated was that Tony wouldn’t stop there. Always being one to surprise, and make sure people were content, he’d redesigned the Avengers Tower to cover the new needs of its temporary inhabitants.  
Clint and Natasha were checking in with SHIELD on a semi regular basis, most likely because they belonged to the most skilled assets they had. Fury couldn’t afford to cut them off completely. So the two agents often didn’t stay overnight or dropped off grid completely for a couple of days.  
Consequently Tony made sure to have sleeping quarters arranged for their use on a shared floor whenever they had time to join the rest of them.

Steve meanwhile had put an end to the lease SHIELD had on an apartment for him in Brooklyn and had moved in rather exclusively. Not immediately of course, neither he nor Tony had been too comfortable in each other’s presence for quite some time. But that had gradually shifted into acceptance, even a slowly blossoming friendship, Bruce couldn't say how glad he was about that.  
Steve moved to the floor above the two agents, this one fully equipped with an open kitchen next to the living room and a rather spacious bathroom. Not that it got used that frequently, most of the time the super soldier joined Bruce in the penthouse kitchen to eat together. He had told him that he disliked eating alone and the Captain seemed to prefer spending time in the upper level of the tower anyway.

After Thor’s departure with Loki when the invasion had been stopped the god hadn’t been seen on earth again. He would come back without doubt, but no one really knew when that was going to be since rebuilding the Bifröst device was bound to take a while. That didn’t stop Tony from putting aside a room on the gyms floor in case the god needed a place to crash “with or without his girl” as he had put it.

It didn’t stop at the sleeping and normal living arrangements, of course it didn’t, it was Tony Stark after all. To universal surprise ‘team-bonding’ was established quite unironically by the person who had claimed to prefer working alone. Well, Bruce had the growing suspicion that Tony said that more because people expected him to be like this than this being the actual truth.  
Those activities mostly consisted of watching movies together, joining each other for lunch or training together, nothing too obscure thankfully. And while Bruce couldn’t and wouldn’t join the training it kind of happened that he prepared some meal for everyone afterwards.

Half a year in, Thor had yet to show himself again, but Steve and Tony had passed the stage of being civil to each other and were actually behaving like friends. Or brothers. Bruce chuckled silently with the mental image of the two heads of the team being siblings. It was too fitting in his opinion.  
Clint and Natasha managed to make it to every team night, even the one time a mission went wrong and Natasha had been captured by the bad guys. Mission report stated she had been so annoyed at the possibility to miss that nights movie that she made even quicker process of wrapping things up than normally. She arrived ten minutes late, Clint wordlessly handed her the popcorn while Steve restarted the movie.

It became oddly domestic and downright peaceful quickly, something that didn’t stop Bruce from being anxious. Quite the contrary, actually. It’s been a long time since he had the possibility of stability, safety or god forbid, a family.  
Tony seemed to get it, maybe had known it from the beginning since he seemed to patiently and subtly follow through a plan the whole time. Bruce had been the first one to move into Avengers Tower, simply because Tony insisted showing his R&D to him and he had no where to go right now. He have had yet to decide which country to travel to next.  
Over the course of weeks the engineer had charmed himself into Bruce’s personal space through the pure lack of self-consciousness and quick words that kept Bruce ever distracted. Tony’s mind was a fascinating thing he couldn’t help but feel attuned to.

The ability to have an actual working space and a nice colleague to bounce ideas with did wonders to Bruce’s psyche and before he even noticed he had started to relax in the lab. Not long after this phenomenon stopped being restricted to the workshops but clung to Tony as a person. That might’ve been due to him never actually stopping to be brilliant and stimulating. Furthermore Tony always seemed to notice when to distract him from thoughts and anxiety.

Like with everything else the engineer was involved in, Bruce didn’t realise how close they’d gotten until he’d practically moved into the penthouse. The intended weekend-stay in the Tower had led to him only going to his quarters for sleep. Instead he joined Tony for coffee or snacks between his work for Stark Industries and in the lab, cooked when they got tired of ordering in, and unwinding in front of the television.  
It scared Bruce enough to contemplate running, but before he could even think about where to go, Tony managed to calm him down again simply by being himself.

Neither of them was good with handling relationships or people in general, which might or might not have caused them to fall into something that could only be called a bad idea.  
Bruce Banners first boyfriend turned out to be a billionaire philanthropist who seemed to have a talent to understand him effortlessly and despite better knowledge he didn’t put a stop to it. He could be pretty selfish if he wanted to.

Three months into their relationship the self-proclaimed playboy hadn’t made any other move than casual yet affectionate touches and the occasional sweet kiss. Bruce had to admit his relief about that.  
It had taken him a while to start enjoying the half-hugs or hands carding through his hair after all it had been a few years since he’d had that the last time. But like most other things Tony seemed to get it. He never backed off completely and instead only gave Bruce time to adjust, baby steps as someone might’ve called it.  
Five months in, cuddling on one of the penthouse sofas during movie night was more or less a given. No one of the team commented on their closeness, they’d just accepted it and went on like usual. 

Another few weeks later the team had universally decided that Bruce was their go-to person for everything concerning Tony.  
No one had seen him in days? They asked Bruce how he was doing.  
Tony refused all offers to have food with the team? Bruce was chosen to be he one to convince him that nutrition was more important than binge-sciencing.  
The Avengers were supposed to give a press conference? He was asked to break it to Tony and make sure he was going to attend.  
This was actually a really good plan, not only because it worked surprisingly well, but also because Bruce apparently thrived more on the feeling of being useful than he ever thought he would. Additionally, Tony indulged him about those things with far less resistance than with all the others. Moreover he even turned it around sometimes. Making sure that Bruce also treated himself decently and talked him trough the panic to engage in public appearances.

Bruce was hesitant to say it aloud but they worked out better than he had hoped they would.

~

“Change of plans for tonight!”  
Tony proclaimed with a certain edge of excitement in his voice. At his words the rest of the team turned around, Bruce who was doing the dishes from tonight’s dinner, exchanged a quick glance with Steve who was carefully placing leftover rice in the fridge.  
“What is it? I thought we would finally finish the damn season? How long am I supposed to accept being left with that cliffhanger? Just because you’ve already watched it-“  
Tony smirked and efficiently made Clint trail off from his sulking complaint.  
“Don’t get your feathers ruffled, birdie, it’s more a change of location than a change of entertainment. At least primarily.”

Bruce frowned while wiping of his wet hands, he didn’t know what Tony was getting at and he would be lying if he said that his stomach twisted a bit at this prospect.  
“So you maybe noticed that there’s been something going on in the gym floor last week.” Of course they had, Tony had been ridiculously secretive about it in the most obvious way, like in one of those comedy shows. Even Bruce had no idea what had happened in the room next to Thors vacant bedroom.  
Like Clints and Natasha’s floor, the lowest level occupied by the avengers wasn’t in complete use. There was no extra kitchen or living space in either of them, just the decadent bathrooms Tony proclaimed were basic standard.  
The biggest part of the level was filled with a gym Bruce hadn’t had more than glimpsed into yet, but the agents were speaking in great appreciation of. Steve was known to work out on sleepless nights there with stark enhanced punching bags, and Tony used it to keep his torso in shape despite or because of the arc reactor.  
This meant there were still two empty rooms, one bedroom and one that served as personal room on other floors. Steve for example had a drawing room, making use of the huge window front in there, while Bruce had equipped it for meditation purposes.

“Get to the point, Stark. I’ve been waiting one week to finally watch this goddamn episode, my patience is wearing thin over here.”  
Natasha rolled her eyes fondly before helping Bruce to put away the clean plates. As always she kept decent distance to him, not a fearful one like she had months before but a respectful one. They all did, minus Tony of course.  
“Yeah yeah. So I thought why not use that space instead of leaving it getting dusty-“ something Bruce knew wouldn’t happen because of the trustworthy cleaning crew that visited twice a week under JARVIS watchful eye “for a more comfortable movie night experience?”  
Steve’s eyebrows raised a notch, slightly suspicious while silently interested. It was an fascinating thing with their captain, while he’d been born before anyone else of them he still was the youngest among the team. It was easy to forget especially because he did a really good job leading them and handling whatever came up, but deep down he was easily thrilled by domesticity. Maybe because the Avengers were everything he still had in this century.

“I built a movie room!”  
Obviously Tony was pretty excited so Bruce decided not to comment and instead let Natasha state the obvious.  
“But you are aware that we do have a perfectly working living room right there, aren’t you? We’ve used it the whole time, it’s exactly what we need.”  
Tony snorted and managed to look playfully offended by that claim. “Oh please, you won’t say that anymore when you’ve seen the room. You’ll never again want to watch a movie anywhere else.”  
Funnily enough Bruce was inclined to believe him without having ever seen the room in question, Tony never did something without amazing results.  
“That’s a big claim. You know I’m hard to convince.”

Natasha winked and the team followed Tony down the elevator into the 52nd floor. Per usual every door was closed eventhough Bruce was only able to make out four of the expected five doors. He blinked and tried to remember how it had looked like back at the beginning when Tony had given him a tour through the upper levels. To his shame he had to admit that he hadn’t entered this floor since.

Without any further explanation or pause, Tony walked over to the door across the one which led to Thor’s room.  
Bruce got in last, his boyfriend shooting him a little smile while ushering him through the opened door.  
Now he knew why there’d been missing an entrance on the other side, the two moderately sized rooms had been joined so that it was now the size of the penthouses living area.

The previously first room was redesigned into some kind of sitting area with kitchen appliances. A, for Tony’s proportions, not-fancy kitchenette with fridge and beverage cooler, as well as an oven was facing the rest of the room. It seemed to be intended to look like a kitchen island, bordered on the one side by a string of colourful bean bags. Bruce couldn’t help but snicker at this view.  
“Rude, Brucie. You hurt my feelings.”  
The man smirked at him, eyes sparkling in a way that assured Bruce that he wasn’t actually insulted  
“Sorry, Tony.”  
Actually now that he thought about it, Tony had most likely chosen the most horrendous colour combinations and hippie-style bags on purpose just to irk them. Seemed to him like a really Tony thing to do.

The main part of the room was unsurprisingly the former second room. It reminded of the sunken couch area from the penthouse, just that instead of an array of sofas and a table the whole floor looked like cushions. Upon Clints hesitant approach and experimentation Bruce understood that it was indeed a complete, gigantic sofa. At the back wall on the opposite side from the enormous screen, was a comfortable looking backrest.  
Bruce wondered if Tony purposefully put the back against the wall to put especially Natasha’s paranoia at rest. He would bet that this was the reason.

“Really Stark? A sofa as big as the whole room?”  
Bruce wasn’t sure if Clint was terrified or thrilled at the idea, since the archer had turned his back to them, nudging the cushions with a sock-clad foot.  
“Of course not! The room is the sofa!”  
Steve rolled his eyes at Tony’s semantics but only seemed irritated by the sight. “It kind of reminds me of a psych ward.”  
Tony gasped in mock hurt while Clint turned back, grin big on the face.  
“You’re absolutely right! And “exactly what we need”, getting self-aware Stark?”

While the team quipped at each other Bruce used the moment to take a closer look himself.  
Strewn over the spacious seating space were colourful pillows in different shapes and sizes, a bit as if Tony couldn’t settle for one type and instead bought all of them. It was charming in a way, Bruce decided, crouching down to stroke over a bright green, fluffy ball shaped one. The kid inside of him wondered how well those would work in a pillow fight.

“So, what do you think?”  
While Bruce had been distracted Tony had come up behind him, now slinging a warm arm around his waist. The words were soft and warm, vibrating through the chest pressed against Bruce’s back.  
For a second it felt as if Tony had made this room for him specifically which was naturally utter non-sense.  
“It really is something.” He smiled and let his eyes wander over the whole expense again.  
“I’m glad.”

The arm and body vanished from behind again, and when Bruce turned around he was greeted by a happy smirk on his boyfriends face.  
It was such a glorious smile that Bruce would’ve stared at him longer if it hadn’t been for Clint. Unsurprisingly he more or less jumped past them onto the sofa-floor, effectively trying to take up as much room as possible.  
“Great, we all love it. It’s awesome. Can we start watching now?”

Steve shook his head fondly and followed the archer onto the sofa, even though much more careful.  
“I’m sure we’ll start in a second.”  
Before Bruce even reacted, Tony had patted him on the shoulder and climbed onto the cushions right after Natasha.

As if it had happened thousands of times before the team sprawled comfortably, closer than they needed to in such a big space, but not in a way that appeared forced.  
The sight made Bruce hesitant to join, unsure where to go. He might’ve gotten around to accept and look forward to Tony’s casual touches, but that hadn’t extended to any of the others yet.

“Come here, left some room for you.”  
One arm lifted from the sofa in an inviting gesture, obviously indicating that Bruce should lay down on top of Tony as they’d often done at other movie nights.  
Hesitatingly he followed the wink, slowly and carefully tiptoeing over the other people’s limbs in the process.  
“There you go.”  
No one else commented or even looked in their direction and Bruce relaxed a bit, trying to ignore the close proximity he found himself in.

“Fucking finally.” Clint called when JARVIS started tonight’s episode, relieving the overcurious archer. It never stopped to amuse Bruce how excited his teammates were, with the sullen looking agent leading the way.

-

After the season was concluded in the episodes last minutes, it was decided that they would start with the next season this very evening.  
Steve went up and asked if someone else wanted something to drink as well, an offer that was taken up by Natasha and Tony. Bruce in the meantime didn’t move, just stayed in his position, head cushioned on his boyfriends chest. It was comfortable and he felt relaxation sip into his body.

Tony held him securely, one hand on his back while he held his drink in the other. It was surprisingly okay like this, something Bruce hadn’t been so sure about earlier.  
Over his head Tony exchanged a silent conversation with one of the others, but it couldn’t be too important.  
After the show’s intro Steve crept closer to the two of them, face only dimly illuminated by the television light. 

“Bruce, would you mind if I rub you feet? I’ve offered it to Tony earlier and he said only if you get one first.”  
He tensed immediately, raising his head to look first at Tony and then to Steve.  
“I-“ Bruce trailed off, at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure if he could stand the others getting close, not like this. For some reason he wasn’t sure if it was safe.

As if Tony could read his mind, the hand on his back started stroking up and down lightly but noticeable. It did wonders to ground Bruce, so effective that he thought Tony might’ve conditioned this reaction the last months.  
“It’s fine if you don’t want to, Bruce.”  
Steve’s voice was gentle and calm as he was kneeling at their feet. His blue eyes sparkled even on the poor light conditions with honesty.

“You could call it off the second it starts to feel bad.” This time it was Tony who whispered to him, hand never stilling.  
Part of Bruce waited for Clint or Natasha to demand silence to concentrate on the episode, but it didn’t happen.  
“You let me try as well.”  
Bruce’s eyes went back to Tony who was looking back at him without any pressure behind his words. Just information.  
“And you don’t seem to regret it. I won’t leave you alone for a second. Do you think you could do it then?”

Bruce swallowed while his mind raced. Tony was right, he could try, and from his experience with Tony had come nothing bad at all. Still he was hesitant for a reason he couldn’t quite formulate.  
“Okay. I trust you.”  
He didn’t hink to specify whom he was trusting, Tony, Steve or the team in general, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Above him Tony nodded, most likely a gesture for Steve, before Bruce’s head was gently pushed down again by his free hand.  
“Just relax, I’ve got you.”

Steve’s hands were as warm and big as he’d imagined them to be. They felt powerful while gentle, a contrast so fitting for everything Steve did.  
Bruce blinked and tried to remain relaxed. It wasn’t bad, really wasn’t but he was still kind of glad that Tony was there to hold him. For some reason it made him feel safe. It was the childish thought that as long as he was in the other mans arms he would be kept protected from harm.

“It’s kind of overwhelming, isn’t it?”  
Clint crouched down in front of Bruce, nearly on eye level.  
“Clint” he mumbled, blinking through the darkness to see more clearly. “You’re going to miss the movie.”  
The archer grinned, but it was less sharp than usual and in his eyes was a depth that made him look like the age Clint really was. There was old hurt in it, sadness and understanding.  
“We can start over later.”

“It’ll get better, I promise. We won’t hurt you, you know that. I know that you know it, but sometimes you can’t quite believe it, right?”  
Bruce swallowed and nodded thickly, it earned him another one of those warm smiles.  
“We’ll show you. You just have to stay where you are and we’ll do all the work, okay?”

Clints hand moved towards him like in slow motion, it took Bruce a moment to realise that he really was going slow for his benefit.  
And Bruce didn’t move, let himself be calmed by Tony’s presence and watched Clint lightly brush a curl from his forehead.  
“There you go. Thank you, Bruce.”

He couldn’t help but colour at the heartfelt gratitude of such a tiny thing and huddled a bit closer into Tony’s chest, who pressed a kiss on his forehead with a chuckle.  
Clint settled down next to Tony, sitting upright and close enough to run a hand trough Bruce’s hair.

Silence fell over them and the lingering warmth of the bodies around him made Bruce languid and sleepy.  
Only after another ten minutes or so when everyone could be sure that Bruce was doing okay Natasha approached.  
At this point he didn’t have it in himself anymore to me anxious or nervous, Bruce just watched the woman lying down next to Tony. While he still wondered what she was going to do, a petite hand threaded it’s fingers into his. Just like that, no words needed.

Without being prompted, at least not to Bruce’s knowledge, JARVIS restarted the episode from the intro.

“That’s been your plan all along?” Bruce whispered into Tony’s ear. There was no answer, just the tightening of the arm that was holding Bruce close.  
His chest felt full with the sudden rush of emotion, gratitude, happiness and love, that tears welled into Bruce’s eyes. This man had planned to give him this all along, give him the possibility to get back something he hadn’t been able to have for years.

“I love you, Tony.”


End file.
